“Health assessment skills are of the most important skills which nurses require. The more precise assessment, the better results would be obtained and the quality of patient care would be improved” (Adib-Hajbaghery & Safa, 2013). I work on a medical-surgical unit and at every change of shift the oncoming nurse does a complete head to toe assessment. Throughout the day if our patient is there for a more specific reason we will do focused assessments, like neuro checks, skin checks or wound assessments. I believe that the assessments performed in my area of practice are thoroughly performed. We use epic for our electronic charting and assessments, if there is something missing that is more focused, we can add it to the flow sheet, so our assessments can be kind of customized. My video physical assessment was very very nerve wracking. I am not good in front of a camera or speaking to the camera. It’s like I forget everything I know. When it is just me and the patient, or me and the patients family, doctors or whoever in the room it is completely different for me than the video assessment assignment (and I even explain what I’m doing to the patient the entire time). When I was a brand new nurse my assessments weren’t as thorough because I worked in a specialty area. So I believe assessments are tailored to your area, but you should always look at the “whole patient.”

Adib-Hajbaghery, M., & Safa, A. (2013, September). Nurses’ Evaluation of Their Use and Mastery in Health Assessment Skills: Selected Iran’s Hospitals. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC42285…

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